1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a recoding and reproducing apparatus configured to record and reproduce video and audio signals of a television broadcast program on and from a recording medium and to a method adapted to edit the video and audio signals and, more particularly, to a recoding and reproducing apparatus enabled to easily skip playback of or cut an unnecessary part, such as a CM (Commercial Message), of a standard television broadcast program recorded on a recording medium and also to a method adapted to edit video and audio signals of the television broadcast program.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, when video and audio signals of a television broadcast program are recorded on a recording medium and when the video and audio signals of the television broadcast program recorded on the recording medium are reproduced, it is usually performed to reproduce and view only a main part of the television broadcast program by skipping playback of unnecessary parts, such as a CM, an opening part, an ending part, and a preview. Also, when the dubbing of the video and audio signals of a television broadcast program recorded on a recording medium is performed, a user should operate the operation keys of a remote control device to thereby cut unnecessary parts, such as a CM, so as not to dub the unnecessary parts. Especially, when the playback or the dubbing of a plurality of standard television broadcast programs, such as serial television broadcast programs to be broadcasted in parts, is performed, there is a problem that a user should operate operation keys of a remote control device to thereby skip or cut unnecessary parts of each of the plurality of standard television broadcast programs recorded on a recording medium.
When the signals of a program are recorded or reproduced, a first signal is recorded at a position, at which playback or cutting is started. A second signal is recorded at a position, at which the playback or the cutting is stopped. After the first signal and the second signal are recorded, at playback of the signals of the program, fast-forwarding is performed when the first signal is detected. The fast-forwarding is stopped when the second signal is detected (see, for example, JP-A-10-112090).
Channel information of a recorded broadcast program is extracted. It is then detected whether a change occurs in the channel information. When an occurrence of a change in the channel information is detected, the recorded program is indexed with an index indicating the occurrence of the change in the channel information. At playback of the program, some recorded data is skipped according to the index (see, for instance, JP-A-2003-32598).
User operation history information representing a history of performing user operations of recording and reproducing of a program according to a user's instruction is stored, that an erasure region of the recorded program is determined according to the user operation history information, and that partial erasure or no-erasure is performed on the program, which is recorded according to the user operation history information, to thereby ensure a free space of a recording medium (see, for example, JP-A-2004-7155).